Attributes and Barriers
Assignment 1 - Lewis Grimwood
Personal Attributes Employers Value
Specific Skills
Technical knowledge is an attribute that employers massively value. When employers look for people with technical knowledge they aren't necessarily looking for people who have studied university or have lots of experience in it. Technical knowledge just covers the basic IT skills such as being able to navigate a computer and the ability to read and write emails etc. Employers look for people with this attribute as most modern workplaces use some form of ICT. An example of this could be a till. Even if the business doesn’t have any form of ICT within the workplace it is likely that at some point they will implement it as it makes operating a business easier. Therefore employers look for people with technical knowledge.
General attributes.
General attributes are basic skills that are seen in the everyday operation of a business. Planning skills is one of them. Employers look for people with planning skills as all business use some form of planning to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Time management is important to employers as it shows them that they are organised and that they value their place within the business. If an employee didn’t have good time management it would give the business the impression that they didn’t care and didn’t take their job seriously. The last attribute I am going to talk about is team working skills. Sometimes employers may decide that they want a task completing in a group as it may either be a difficult task or may be too time consuming for someone to complete individually. This skills is highly valued by employers as without it staff wouldn’t communicate properly in the workplace resulting in either a lack of work or a lack of quality in the work if it was to be completed in a team.
Attitudes
Businesses look for people who are independent because in the work environment if someone is independent it implies that they are intelligent and it also portrays that they don’t rely on others to get work done. Employers expect their members of staff to be thoughtful as it shows a lot about them as a person, it shows that they are polite and consider other people’s opinions. This is important to employers as business want their members of staff to have all of these qualities as customers prefer to communicate to members of staff that have them qualities. Employers expect members of staff to be friendly as it gives the business a better image. If a customer comes into a shop they will want to be approached by someone who is friendly.
Principles of effective communication
General Communication Skills
Your tone of voice can send out a different message
depending what tone of voice you use. For example you could say the same sentence twice but with a different tone of voice each time and the sentence would mean something different to what it did the first time. This is important within the work industry as if you are talking to a customer you have to talk formal and politely to show the customer respect. For example when talking to your boss you would use a polite tone of voice as if
Interpersonal skills
Body language is the way you present yourself. People can predict your mood or the type of person you are by your body language. For example if someone was teaching a lesson and someone was sat on their chair sloped down the teacher will get the impression that the student doesn't care about the lesson and is not bothered about their education. Therefore business value body language as when talking to a customer you need to portray the right body language. Facial expressions also like body language have a way of allowing you to communicate without
you even realising. For example if you said a joke and someone smiled, without them having to say anything you would receive the message that they found it funny. Hand gestures can be used to communicate as
different hand gestures have different meanings. For example nodding your head up and down means yes. Hand gestures can be used for people who are deaf. Some business require that their staff can use sign language in order to communicate with the customers.
Written communication
Notices are a quick way to tell someone something. Notices usually consist of short sentences. Notices are mostly used in a business to inform staff what they are required to do on that day. Notices also usual display things like overtime for the staff where they can sign up, or they can be used to keep the staff up to date with news such as dates for events etc. Notices can be both informal and formal, this is because what is displayed on a notice board can vary. It could be quick notes which would be informal or letters which would be formal. Another form of written communication is notes. Notes are usually a couple of keywords to make a sentence or can even be as small as one word. Notes are often used when someone is giving lots of information out and to save time and write as much information as possible in the shortest amount of time notes are used. An example of where a note would be used could be a interview, if an employer was interviewing someone they might take quick notes about the person being interviewed. Notes tend to be informal as they are just quick key points.
you didn't he could get the wrong impression and think you are being rude when you're not.
Potential Barriers To Effective Communication
Physical Barriers
Physical barriers affect communication massively, however they don't completely prevent people from communicating as sound can travel through solid objects. For example in a business a physical barrier could be if the manager needs to communicate with someone in a different room or floor. To get around this the manager could email the member of staff.
Distraction
Distraction is a barrier of communication as when someone is talking you need to be fully focused otherwise you won't get the full message that is being sent to you which will result in you being confused. Businesses wouldn't like to employ people who are easily distracted as they wouldn't get as much work done. An example of distraction could be if you were sat in a meeting at work and you kept on checking your phone and sending texts. In this scenario your phone would be the distraction.
Noise
Noise can be a barrier to communication as if two people talking and there is a lot of noise in the background then they are going to struggle to understand each other which could result in the person listening to think the person talking has said something that they haven't and the wrong message being received. An example of this could be in a noisy work environment, if someone was trying to take an order and it's too loud the member of staff might not be able to take that order. This would affect business as it would lower their profit due to people not being able to take orders.
Lack of concentration / tiredness
A lack of concentration could case in the receiver not listening properly to what the sender is saying and not hearing half of what they said. This will result in the receiver being confused and not properly understanding what the sender said as they can't process what was said properly. Business try to prevent this as if their staff are tired not much work would get done. An example of this within the work industry would be if you were up late before work you will most likely be tired in the morning and this would also affect your concentration.
Language
Langue can massively affect communication as if two people are trying to have a conversation and they speak different a language then they are going to struggle to understand each other. This is common in international business as they have suppliers from all over the world. To get around this issue they either just email each other which can be translated when the supplier receives the message or if it they were at a meeting they would hire a translator to translate what is said. An example of this would be at a meeting with people from different countries you would have a translator in order to understand each other.
Time difference
Time difference affects communication as if someone is 6 hours ahead of you and you contact them at around 5pm they will most likely be asleep so you will have to wait till the morning in order to get a response. An example of this would be if a business was to communicate with someone from a different country via telephone they would have to put the time difference into consideration before contacting them.
Conclusion
To conclude I will be explaining the ways in which potential barriers can be avoided. A non physical barrier to communication is lack of concentration, although not a obvious one, depending on the type of job, lack of concentration is a big communication barrier. One way for an employer or manager to get round this problem is to motivate the staff. This important within a business because if a member of staff is not motivated they will most likely not work to their full potential and there lack of concentration will be quite high. This is a big problem because if the member of staff massively lacks concentration then there will most likely be a lack of work produced as the member of staff will not know what they are doing due to not concentrating on what’s being said when spoke to. There are a couple of ways to motivate staff. One of the most common ways is to give staff bonus payments when extra work is done. For example if a salesman was required to make 10 sales a day they would make 10 sales then stop. If the business was to say to him after he reaches his daily goal for 10 he will be given an extra £20 for every sale he makes he will be more motivated and put more effort into trying to make sales after he reaches his target. This is a bonus for both the member of staff and the business as the business is gaining more sales and the salesman is getting a better pay.
To conclude I will be explaining the ways in which potential barriers can be avoided. A non physical barrier to communication is lack of concentration, although not a obvious one, depending on the type of job, lack of concentration is a big communication barrier. One way for an employer or manager to get round this problem is to motivate the staff. This important within a business because if a member of staff is not motivated they will most likely not work to their full potential and there lack of concentration will be quite high. This is a big problem because if the member of staff massively lacks concentration then there will most likely be a lack of work produced as the member of staff will not know what they are doing due to not concentrating on what’s being said when spoke to. There are a couple of ways to motivate staff. One of the most common ways is to give staff bonus payments when extra work is done. For example if a salesman was required to make 10 sales a day they would make 10 sales then stop. If the business was to say to him after he reaches his daily goal for 10 he will be given an extra £20 for every sale he makes he will be more motivated and put more effort into trying to make sales after he reaches his target. This is a bonus for both the member of staff and the business as the business is gaining more sales and the salesman is getting a better pay.